The Village Association Of Batavia named two recipients for its Property Improvement Award for the month of June. Two local business owners took it upon themselves to beautify the properties they lease in an effort to promote their businesses and beautify the village.

Batavia resident Virgil Knapke received the first award for improvements made to the Snappy Tomato Pizza restaurant at the corner of Main Street and North Riverside Drive. He made renovations to the store before opening five months ago and recently replaced the large sign out front.

“I felt like I wanted a nice clean look. I use the sign to communicate with the community and advertise,” Knapke said. “It’s difficult to advertise a single location in an efficient way so the sign is really important to me.”